Savile’s Highland retreat to be turned into family home

The Highland retreat of disgraced TV presenter Jimmy Savile is to be converted into a family home after being bought for £212k at auction.

In a letter to planning officials at Highland Council new owner Michael Canny wrote of his desire to make a break with the cottage’s ‘unfortunate history’, which has seen the property daubed with graffiti and subjected to repeated attacked by vandals.

The letter read: “The property has some unfortunate history attached to it and we would hope to detach the property and ourselves from this.

“In future we would hope to seek planning permission to alter the property with respect to the immediate landscape but to make it more hospitable for family use.”

5 Comments

I can understand Mr. Canny's desire to make a break and detach himself and his family from the property's past history, however; I feel that the place needs an absolute gutting and replaced with a monument to the memory of a far far,now better known human being; than the previous owner. I believe that the majority of the people of our beautiful British Islands would like to see the place being purged and not just re-inhabited

I don't think it needs to be torn down. What did the building itself do? We cannot ask for buildings to be ripped down if their owners are monsters, otherwise where would we stop? I would sympathise with this stance if the building itself was the main scene of the many crimes (as per the recent USA kidnapping), but it appears this is not necessarily the case here.

Very similar argument for a dangerous dog with a very bad owner. The dog can be re-trained back into civilisation and that needs to be the case with this house. I would agree with previous that some alterations are needed but not necessarily destruction.

Couldn't agree more- this talk of victimizing a building makes you realize just how close primitive thought is to the surface of our so called "modern" and "civilized" minds.
Your welcome thoughts restore some hope that the presence of the sober common sense British mindset is still active in these emotive driven post Lady-Di days of reflex hysteria.

212k?!
wonder if it will remain a holiday home used once in a blue moon...
Also, why has the new owner written a letter to "planning officials" about it? were there conditions applied to the sale?
tbh I think suggesting that it is knocked down is completely ridiculous - the mountaineering hut/visitor centre is a decent idea but with the road position, hardly ideal for this location.
hope the new owner can put it to use and not run out of money after paying that much for it

The price of the property reflects its unique location - you'd never get consent for a new house there. The letter to planning officials is a supporting statement accompanying a planning application for a new water supply borehole.
I do hope it gets used as a family home and not just a holiday house, but at the very least it's being re-used.
Mr Canny - re-slate it please!